Subtitles section Play video
-
Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Adjective Phrase 37. The adjective phrase today is
-
tit-for-tat. Okay. Let's continue. If someone does something tit-for-tat
-
it is usually done in revenge or in retaliation for something done to upset
-
or harm someone or harm a particular person. So they did something to you, you do
-
something back to them. It's a little bit like the idea of like an eye for an eye
-
a tooth for tooth. All right. Let's continue. The origin of tit for tat is believed to
-
derive from like an older phrase " tip for tap. " Okay. Which used to mean
-
blow-for-blow. So I hit you. You hit me. Even though blow, today blow sounds more
-
like a hard hit. But you know , tit for tat it would actually or tip and tap
-
would actually be a light hit today. Okay. for that just became a variant of the
-
word. Okay. So it's a little strange. Because the original phrase was tip
-
for tap and that kind of went out. And the variant remained. So we still say tit
-
for tat. But no longer tip for you know, tip for tap anymore. Okay. Let's continue.
-
Okay. The word tip still has the meaning of a slight hit or a light hit. Yeah. So
-
just like , like in baseball you could get a foul tip. Where the batter swings and
-
he just barely the, the ball just barely touches the bat. So that could be
-
referred to as a foul tip or if you're passing somebody and you just barely
-
touch them just slightly, you could say you, you, you know , you just tipped them or
-
something just tipped it. Okay. Let's continue. Tap is also a light hit as
-
in you tap someone on the shoulder. Like try to get their attention. Hey, hey buddy you know,
-
again. Hey excuse me. Try to get somebody's attention. You tap them. Okay.
-
Tit for tat could be found in John Heywood's book of Proverbs. Of course you
-
know he was another one that compiled or collected a lot of Proverbs too.
-
All right. We just have two examples here. Example number one. In the trade war
-
between those two countries there were tit-for-tat cases of implementing duties
-
on each other's good. So if one country puts some duties on their, their country
-
they turn around and did it back and back and forth several times. So they
-
were doing it tit for tat. You do it to me I do it back to you. Okay and we
-
sometimes hear this too. Sometimes if like two countries are angry at each
-
other and they, they force their diplomats to leave. So if you force my
-
diplomats to leave. You tit for tat they'll turn around and do the same
-
thing back to them.They'll force that country's diplomats to leave too So we
-
might hear it in that sort of situation as well. And the second one that we have
-
here. Those warring drug gangs have had tit-for-tat attacks on each other's
-
members in a war over territory. Yeah. We often use to hear about this in the past
-
that you know these drug gangs, they think they have this certain territory
-
but two of them might be fighting about a small piece that they think should
-
belong to them. So they will fight back to each other,
-
tick and tit for tat. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it . I hope it was clear. Thank you for
-
your time. Bye-bye.